High school reopens with killer-wave lesson

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A student retrieves a chair from the mud and rubble of Aceh's State Junior High School No.17 on the first day back since the tsunami.Photo: Jason South

Amid muddied and battered school buildings, the first lesson for
Aceh's returning children was on tsunamis.

The headmistress of State Junior High School No. 17, Kasumi
Sulaiman, and her staff related the history of tsunamis and the
devastation wrought by the deadly waves across the region a month
ago.

"We want them to realise they were not alone in this disaster,
it happened in other countries," Mrs Sulaiman told The
Age.

Any joy at restarting school and meeting friends was muted by
the absence of many. Of the school's 980 pupils, she believes half
may have died. Aceh's death toll yesterday passed 99,000, with
127,000 missing.

The school was crowded with pupils from other schools destroyed
by the wall of water that swept across Banda Aceh.

Sixteen-year-old Mutia was searching for friends from her
seaside school at Ulelee. But she has only found five of the 300
classmates meant to be here.

She was washed away on December 26 and survived by clinging to
driftwood. She has not seen her mother and sister since. "I still
hope to find them, at least their bodies," she says.

Mrs Sulaiman said her pupils would not remain sad because they
would not be lonely. But today was difficult, she said, as firemen
arrived to hose down muddy classrooms. New desks, chairs and
blackboards were urgently needed but, with help, classes should
soon return to normal, she said.

At school No. 17, the buildings remain largely intact, despite
being surrounded by a flattened wasteland. Of Banda Aceh's schools,
only 47 opened yesterday - the other 134 were destroyed or
seriously damaged. Another 2500 teachers are being trained to
replace the 1747 dead or missing.

Aceh's provincial secretary Thanthawi Ishak toured this school
and others. He was optimistic the schools could be rebuilt and the
students recover. "I think the schools can be the cure, the
medicine for trauma," he said.